CNN back in favor at AOL Time Warner

Commentary: News network is huge asset after attacks

By

JonFriedman

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Suddenly CNN is again a major asset for its parent, AOL Time Warner.

Prior to the attacks against the U.S. on Sept. 11, CNN looked like the media world's biggest headache. Throughout 2001, AOL Time Warner, the world's largest media and Internet company
AOL
had looked more desperate than determined in its resolve to rebuild the sluggish CNN.

Then terrorists killed thousands of Americans using hijacked commercial airplanes to crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Instantly, President Bush declared "war" on the terrorists. A huge international story was emerging, before our eyes.

Overnight, the tragic events have given CNN a shot at redemption, and it's seizing the moment.

CNN's predicament

For the past year, CNN has faced the predicament of trying to appeal to a younger audience while halting the momentum of rival Fox News, which gained momentum by focusing on so-called "in-your-face" personalized journalism. CNN's prestige was boomeranging. Once it looked regal. Now it looked out of touch.

Just as CNN was regarded as a liberal outlet, Fox became a conservative one. With the election of George W. Bush, it appeared that conservative values were in.

AOL Time Warner threw some big bucks at the problem. It installed new management at CNN, redesigned the look and tone of its sister network Headline News, began building a TV studio in its New York headquarters.

In what looked to be the height of desperation, CNN even went so far as to woo archconservative personality Rush Limbaugh. There seemed to be zero chance that Limbaugh would join what had been dubbed by the political right as Clinton Network News (in honor of the sympathetic reaction CNN reserved for former President Bill Clinton). So far, Limbaugh has not joined CNN.

Valuable asset

At its best, CNN is a very valuable property for AOL Time Warner. For openers, it's arguably the best-known media property around the world. Regardless of progress made by Fox and MSNBC, CNN is where Americans turn in times of crises when they want round-the-clock news reports.

A booming CNN could lead AOL Time Warner's joint-selling and marketing programs around the world as the parent tries to expand its sales in Europe, South America and, especially, Asia. In addition to CNN, AOL Time Warner owns the Time Inc. magazine group, the America Online service, Warner's film and music divisions and Home Box Office.

AOL Time Warner could use some unexpected good news on the CNN front. This is the worst year in memory for the media industry in the U.S. The crippling advertising slowdown is showing no serious sign of staging a recovery any time soon.

The major media companies rose to the occasion by showing continuous news coverage and suffered losses of hundreds of millions of dollars because of canceled advertisements.

The major TV networks went four days without airing an ad during the crisis, the longest span since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

Advertising-driven companies such as AOL Time Warner and Viacom, which owns CBS and is a significant investor in CBS.MarketWatch.com, will take hits. Even Walt Disney
DIS, -0.76%
is feeling the effects, as the crisis is sure to cut theme park attendance.

The World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania tragedies also set back AOL Time Warner's grand plan to roll out "Straight from the Gut." The memoirs of former General Electric
GE, +2.96%
chairman, Jack Welch, were published on Sept. 11, but without any fanfare.

Welch had received a mammoth $7.1 million advance for his book and it was perhaps the most eagerly awaited release of 2001.

AOL Time Warner and Welch quietly postponed the book tour, out of respect to the victims of the attacks.

Regaining lost glory

CNN had its high-water mark in early 1991, a full decade ago, when it -- and it alone -- seemed to have the will and the resources to cover the Gulf War conflict around the clock.

Americans watched the TV news nonstop during that period and CNN gleamed. It was on the scene in Baghdad, providing riveting clips of the war-torn city.

But CNN suffered in the subsequent years. Without a war to broadcast, its peacetime broadcasts didn't have the same sense of urgency.

Gradually, CNN exaggerated the national significance of such grotesque made-for television events as the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the fight for custody of Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez.

In the past few months, CNN, desperate for a ratings boost, covered the travails of California Rep. Gary Condit in a way that was completely out of proportion and verged on bad taste. CNN tried to have it both ways. Its leaders criticized Fox's tabloid-style headlines but CNN seemed to have no problem swimming in those same murky waters.

CNN's "Larry King Live" should've been ashamed about covering the Condit "story" with a fervor first seen in the 1979 Iran hostage ordeal when ABC showed "America Held Hostage" reports every night at 11:30 p.m., spawning the "Nightline" program with Ted Koppel.

One CNN reporter, in particular, has distinguished himself since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Nic Robertson (and his cameraman) delivered, cool incisive news reports from Afghanistan, not really knowing whether or not the lights that momentarily illuminated the night skies on that first night were actually bombs.

Even after Robertson was told that the Afghan government could no longer guarantee his safety if Afghanistan was attacked, he made solid contributions to the ongoing story. He and his cameraman complied with the order and moved to the border of Pakistan. On the morning of Sept. 20, he interviewed a former soldier from the Khyber Pass.

The ongoing tragedy has given CNN an opportunity to reflect on what it does best -- and better than anyone else. When it concentrates on airing hard news, with vivid pictures from foreign lands -- stories that are tailor-made for the network's considerable skills -- it is every bit the jewel that it was back in 1991.

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